Processes for treating waste or scrap materials containing thermoplastics have long been desired and numerous such processes are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,463 discloses a process for treating waste which may contain plastic materials. The patented process comprises a preliminary physical treatment consisting of shredding or granulating the material, drying the material to a water content of not more than 8% by weight, preheating the material to a temperature of 80.degree. to 160.degree. C., kneading at a temperature of 120.degree. to 250.degree. C. and injection molding or extrusion of the material to form a final product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,352 discloses a process for working up thermoplastic synthetic material into an article having the properties of wood. This process comprises fluidizing, molding and cooling the material. The waste material treated by the patented process may contain 20-25% non-plastic material. Other methods for processing waste or scrap containing thermoplastic materials are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,279,790 and 4,970,043.
Examples of waste processing methods which may be utilized for the treatment of organic or organic-containing materials are also known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,649 discloses a method of destructive distillation of organic waste material separated from trash or garbage which comprises compressing and heating the material in the absence of air in several stages. U.S. Pat. No. 4,225,640 discloses a method of recycling thermoplastic material from municipal waste which comprises the use of leaf material present in the waste.
However, conventional processes such as those discussed above, for treating waste or industrial scrap material require the sorting of the intake material prior to treatment. That is, such conventional processes generally require that "contaminate" materials be sorted or removed from the intake material to be treated prior to processing. For example, processes for treating polymerics may require sorting of the intake material to remove organic materials, fibrous materials, etc., while methods for treating organics generally require sorting to remove or separate thermoplastics. Such sorting steps necessitate the utilization of resources and labor which has proven to be expensive, thereby raising the cost of treating the intake materials. Accordingly, it can be seen that a method for processing unsorted waste or industrial scrap material is needed.